Eminem gives a rare interview for XXL’s 25th-anniversary issue.
XXL Magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and they enlist Eminem for their latest issue. The rapper looks back on his long musical career, battle with drug addiction and more in the long interview. He also touches on his role in today’s hip-hop while giving props to rappers like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Joyner Lucas and Big Sean.
“My role in today’s hip-hop is to always try to be the best rapper,” he said. “That’s it. That’s how I want to feel inside. That’s what I want to feel. And I can’t do that until I listen to what the f**k J. Cole just put out. What the f**k did Kendrick just put out? And I’m thinking, Oh, these dudes ain’t playing. I don’t want to get swept away in that shuffle. I still want to let everybody know who the f**k I am. Like I said, “They rap to be the best rappers.” I’ll hear some sh*t by them, and I’ll be like, Yo, I ain’t the best rapper right now. I need to f**kin’ get up, get back on my sh*t.”
He continued, “My writing process is different now than it was back in the day. It used to be, give me whatever piece of paper is laying around and I’m going to write some ideas down. Sometimes I wish I could have that freedom back. At the beginning of my career, I had this whole canvas that I could paint on. “I haven’t made a song about this, this, this. I can make a song about this.” The more you paint on that canvas, all of the sudden, you’ve made a song about every single thing you can f**kin’ possibly think of. So, I start getting in my head. If I had a choice between being the best rapper or making the best albums, I’d rather be the best rapper. That’s how I rap, to be the best rapper. Obviously, all of that is subjective, and everybody’s got their favorite rappers, but in my head, I would rather do that than just make good songs.”
“At this point, a lot of the big achievements that could come in your career have happened for me already, so I don’t hyper-focus on numbers and being on charts. What I hyper-focus on is people like Kendrick Lamar, Joyner Lucas, J. Cole and Big Sean, and watching them and how the f**k they’re doing their sh*t. Because they’re also focused on being the best rappers.”
“I want to do things that nobody from this point on can ever top. Rap to a level that no one else could get to. And again, it’s subjective, and every rapper, especially rappers in competitive rap, wants to be the best rapper. So, I look for the younger generation to push me. I don’t have to make albums. I don’t have to do anything at this point. It’s about wanting to, and that’s never changed for me no matter what level the fame’s gotten to. I still love to rap. It’s always been the most important thing to me. I still have fun writing. I have fun watching the rappers I just mentioned, and being like, OK, let me see if I can do something that inside I think I can top that. And every time the best rappers drop an album, it changes the landscape of the f**kin’ game. At least it does for me, and I’m like, I need to be able to rap like that. Because if I don’t do that, someone’s going to come behind me, probably in the next couple of years, and wash me.”
“I couldn’t sit up here, say, “Man, I want to be the best rapper that ever was and ever will be, but I don’t listen to anybody else’s sh*t and I think that I’m untouchable.” No, because the minute you sleep, someone’s coming to take your head off. That’s what I’ve always loved about rap. It’s always evolving, and to succeed you need to be constantly aware of that and keep up with it.”
The piece was released shortly after Em discussed his near-fatal drug overdose incident from 15 years ago in a conversation with Paul Rosenberg. ” Em spoke about his unintentional methadone addiction and how it took a while for his mind to start functioning normally again.
😁🎂25@xxl! https://t.co/PkZgGypyoS
— Paul Bunyan Rosenberg (@rosenberg) September 14, 2022
